Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

19 reviews

maryellen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The novel blurb may lead you to believe that the crucial element is the dead body but that plays a small small roll in the actual plot. There are some rather unbelievable but still enjoyable elements-
The leaders of the land relying on a 14 year old and her friend to make sense of political issues and power grabs
- is a key example.
I adored the sentient bread and the relatively well-thought-out magic system. There was realism in the magic and non-magic relations that could be compared to relations between groups in the real world. 
There was a MacGuffin element at the end of the book in the form of a specific character but said character wasn't wholly involved otherwise. The young characters accurately and often criticize that the heroism fell to them to do and pointed out multiple adults who failed in their jobs and caused this. A refreshing take amongst all the young adult fantasy characters that exist. There is also a brief criticism in how wars function in regards to those in the wars.
There is a little judgment on the form of magic characters are able to do and a sort of hierarchy in terms of abilities. There is also very much a class system ("useless" magickers and the destitute are relegated to 'the rat's nest' and slums in a specific part of the land) and several important characters have ties to the lowest seen parts of the system. 
There is a lot of humor to lighten the tense moments but I do wish some of the tense bits had a but more gravity to them.
The dead girl in the bakery is found and when her brother comes to look for proof he does the majority of his grieving off page and in the next chapter is acting like his sister never really existed in favor of helping our lead girl escape persecution.

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kaylasbewks's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

stars ,, 5.0
cawpile ,, 10.0

want to read about dancing gingerbread-man golems fighting mercenaries? ,, this is your book!

i honestly can't express how much i loved this book. it was so fun 'n sweet and i cried, genuine sobs! this book was everything i wanted and more, it wasn't even on my tbr, i just saw the title and went,, yep, reading that now. the characters were fantastic,, and made me cry ,, the writing was impeccable (to the point of me forgetting where i was in real life for a hot minute) and the plot itself was so fun! would definitely recommend this! ,, definitely getting a physical copy noooowww ,, <3

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uranaishi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75


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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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4.0


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elltea11's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

There were several places where I felt like the book could and perhaps should have ended. Not as good as Nettle & Bone imo, but still worth a read.

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devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.0


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sonatica's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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annorabrady's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This was a fun story, definitely good for middle grades. But it's hard to stay invested in a story where a 14 year old suddenly becomes a war hero after never doing anything more than accidental magic or simple baking tricks in a matter of weeks.
Especially when she's done so by using magic in ways that should have taken years to even learn how to do, and somehow this magic resulted in protecting all but 7 people on her side.
 

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vivivi's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oooo so good! It's funny, a little silly (in a good way), and unexpectedly serious without being serious. It's especially interesting to learn about how this book had so much trouble getting published the traditional way (something about the book's content not quite fitting the mould that the various publishers wanted for their type of fiction), and I'm glad the author decided to self-publish it! I love the bits of darkness that gave this book some roots in reality even while the concept (a teenage baker whose familiar is a barrel of carnivorous sourdough starter) and Mona's running commentary kept it light and fun, most of the time. The baking puns are the best xD

The vibes I'm getting for this book sort of remind me of the Septimus Heap books, actually, and that's pretty nostalgic. I might reread that series after this.

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